Germany counts over 2.16mn Covid-19 cases in one year

Berlin, Jan 28 : Exactly one year ago today, the first Covid-19 case in Germany was officially confirmed. Since then, more than 2.16 million Covid-19 cases have been registered in the country, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Wednesday.
“A year ago today, not everyone realized that we would be living in a pandemic,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her speech on Tuesday during the virtual annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), adding that “our lives over the next few years would be shaped by the deep traces of the pandemic in our economy and society.” Back in late January last year, Bavarian health authorities confirmed the first Covid-19 case in Germany, an employee of the automotive supplier Webasto near Munich who was infected during a company event, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“When Webasto became the first company in Germany to be confronted with the novel virus exactly twelve months ago, I could never have imagined the extent to which the virus would spread globally,” said Holger Engelmann, chairman of the management board at Webasto SE, in a statement.
Although the Covid-19 outbreak at Webasto was quickly brought under control with the help of contact tracing, the virus continued its spread for example during a carnival event, when a large number of people got infected.
An unprecedented lockdown followed in spring, with contact restrictions and a shutdown of the economy. During summer, Covid-19 infection rates in Germany had calmed down, but the situation worsened during the fall.